The Unemployed Go To Space

More from the ideologues of happy automation:

“We should be excited about automation, because what it could potentially mean is more time educating ourselves, more time creating art, more time investing in and investigating the sciences, more time focused on invention, more time going to space, more time enjoying the world that we live in,” she said. “Because not all creativity needs to be bonded by wage.”

Yes, that’s exactly what all those unemployed coal miners have been doing in West Virginia. They’ve been creating art and going to space. I’ve been so worried about them but how silly of me.

“Let them go to space” is the 21st-century equivalent of “let them eat cake.”

“Let them go to space” is the 21st-century equivalent of “let them eat cake.”
In the future, there will be brave miners who travel to asteroids and mine rare earth materials.

The asteroid belt is brimming with metals – everything from iron and nickel, to gold and platinum. It’s estimated there is at least $700 billion billion worth of mineral wealth in the belt, and companies are being set up all around the world to plunder these resources in a gold rush for the 21st century.

“It’s the next boom industry. Once you set up the infrastructure then the possibilities are almost infinite. There’s an astronomical amount of money to be made by those bold enough to rise to the challenge of the asteroid rush,” says Mitch Hunter-Scullion, who founded the UK-based Asteroid Mining Company just after leaving university. The company plans to launch its first prospecting satellite in 2020 and start mining operations in space by 2030….

Also:…President Obama signed the so-called “Space Law,” approved by the US Congress whose latest title allows companies in the country to exploit space mining and the appropriation of asteroids and other “space resources.”

The concept of “space mining” began to develop in the early 90s but caught momentum on November 25th, 2015 when President Obama signed the so-called “Space Law,” approved by the US Congress.

Its latest title allows companies in the country to exploit space mining and the appropriation of asteroids and other “space resources” by private individuals and companies if they get the technology to move and exploit the bodies rich in minerals such as platinum, gold, iron or water.

The law makes it clear that whoever is capable of recovering resources from an asteroid has the right to “own, transport, use and sell it.” However, this is not something novel as the Americans have transgressed the rules of maritime law to space.

In addition to that, the USA cannot reserve sovereignty rights because the claim of celestial bodies by governments is expressly prohibited in the International Treaty of Outer Space signed within the UN in 1967.

This treaty states that nations cannot have territories in space, i.e., no country can claim exclusive ownership over any celestial body….

<a href=”https://www.wired.co.uk/article/international-laws-are-not-ready-for-space-miningMore:The realisation of space exploitation will disrupt world politics,” explains Deganit Paikowsky, lead author of the paper. “We present in this paper a review of current space mining ventures, and the international legislation, which could stand in their way – or aid them in their mission.”

The researchers describes a situation in which one private company wins the race to space mining, immediately reducing the value of once precious commodities on Earth. The situation is not unlikely to happen in the future given current advances in technology.